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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > April > 30
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
April Fool’s Month
A question for Bronson Arroyo as he does his pool laps: Can you cry under water?
The reason we ask is because what the Cincinnati Reds did the last two days in St. Louis is enough to push the most hardened Reds fans into crying jags.
A 17-loss April also means, well, maybe there IS crying in baseball.
Arroyo straightened himself out Monday and pitched the Reds to a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game winning streak, the longest of the season. Three? The longest? You betcha, buddy.
Then the Reds play the next two games as if a baseball is a foreign object — hitting it or catching it. Once again they couldn’t buy an important base hit from a street person with a hundred-dollar bill.
Before Thursday afternoon’s yawn-inducer, somebody pointed out to manager Dusty Baker that the Reds hadn’t had a winning road trip since 2006, that they were 1-17 in their last 18 road trips.
“Really? Are you kidding me?” he said with a shake of his head. Yep, Dusty, it is how a team constructs seven straight years of losing — and don’t blame it on seven years of bad luck because Jack McKeon broke a mirror in the manager’s office when they didn’t bring him back after the 2000 season, the team’s last winning season (85-77).
Timeout while I light up a cigar in Jack’s memory, or go kick a base in Lou Piniella’s memory. Or maybe I’ll scribble Adam Dunn’s name on a lineup card in the leadoff spot in memory of Bob Boone.
During Thursday’s 5-2 loss, the middle of the batting order would have done just as well to take the capsule ride up to the top of the Gateway Arch.
Ken Griffey Jr., Brandon Phillips and Adam Dunn neither scored a run nor drove one in. Phillips was 0-for-4 with two punchouts and stranded four. Dunn had two hits that meant nothing and Griffey had a hit and a walk that also equaled nothing.
So, let’s see. Is there one ‘r’ in moribund? I know there is one ‘r’ in boring. And there is one ‘r’ in Harang but damn few w’s — and it isn’t his fault.
The guy is 1-4 with a 2.98 ERA in seven starts. He has six quality starts. The Reds have given him 22 runs (3.1 per game).
So for the second straight year the Reds have a four-time loser in April. Last year it was Eric Milton, who did NOT produce six quality starts and who did NOT have an ERA under 3.00.
The troupe is 3-3 on the trip. After resting in Buckhead (who can rest in Buckhead with its bars, bistros and restaurants?), the Reds open a three-game series in Atlanta Friday night.
Me? I get to go home tonight, rest a day in the abode, then cart my wife, Nadine, off to Atlanta with me, where her son, Chad, is a nuclear engineer. Hey, baseball writer/nuclear engineer? Same thing, right?
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TweetMeet me in St. Louis
Anybody who plans to visit St. Louis, stay at the Westin on Spruce. And this is not a free commercial. I paid (well, the newspaper did) full boat for my stay.
But it is one of America’s great hotels, probably my favorite. Sweet, large rooms, marble bathrooms, plush carpeting and fixtures. And you can look out your window and see Busch Stadium and the Gateway Arch.
The MetroLink train runs right next door - one way to the airport and the other way across the Mississippi to the Casino Queen, for those inclined to contribute to the Illinois economy. I always hope I break even because I need the money.
Just down the street is Charley Gitto’s, my favorite out-of-town Italian restaurant and second favorite anywhere behind Momma DiSalvo’s right there in Kettering. Gitto’s is stuffed with photos of celebrities, including at least five of Tommy Lasorda, so you know it must be good Italian food.
Charley sends food to the visiting team’s clubhouse for the first game of each series, so the Reds celebrated Monday’s win with Gitto’s best.
Anyway, t’was a short night - back at the hotel after Tuesday’s horror show at 1 a.m., up at 7 to pack, check out and hit the clubhouse by 10 for a meeting with manager Dusty Baker.
As I passed the old Marriott near where the old park stood (now a large hole in the ground with visions of big things to happen - sort of like the big hole next to Great American Ball Park), I thought of the only time I missed the first pitch of a game.
It was a Sunday morning after a Saturday night game. I left the window cracked on my 18th floor room that overlooked the old Busch. As I awoke, I heard a spooky voice: “Now batting for the Cardinals, No. 23, Ted Simmons.” It was the bottom of the first and I made it by the top of the third.
Anyway, when I got to the park Thursday morning, that’s when it was discovered that Baker’s revamped pitching rotation has been revamped again.
Before Tuesday’s game, the rotation for a three-game weekend series in Atlanta was to be Edinson Volquez, Matt Belisle and Johnny Cueto. Bronson Arroyo was shoved back to Tuesday, seven days of rest.
Then Cueto was stuffed and mounted by the Cardinals Tuesday night - 1 2/3 innings, seven runs (six earned) and eight hits.
Quick change time.
On Wednesday morning Baker said the rotation in Atlanta now is Volquez, Belisle and Arroyo. Cueto is being moved back to Tuesday, giving him six days of rest.
To me, that makes sense. Arroyo pitched fairly well Monday and may have relocated his AWOL fastball. Cueto is struggling - 0-3 with a 6.74 ERA over his last four starts.
In addition, Baker and GM Walt Jocketty have put out a call for Mario Soto, Cueto’s mentor, to join the team for some reconstruction work.
“Mario practically raised him as a pitcher, taught him the change-up,” said Baker. “I said in spring training that I’d like Soto to join us about once a month to help Cueto and Edinson Volquez.”
Just leave Volquez alone, OK? Just pat him on the back and say, “Just keep on keeping on.” Or as Abe Lincoln once said when people complained about Gen. U.S. Grant’s drinking, “Find out what brand he drinks and give it to the other generals.”
Of Cueto, Baker said, “Based on his last couple of starts, moving Cueto back gives him a little more time to collect his thoughts and give him a couple of bullpen sessions instead of one. His change-up has been up and he has lost confidence in his slider. We’ll get Mario Soto on the case, big-time.”
Or as he was known during his days in the Reds rotation: Mario Speedwagon.
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